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One writer - husband in to - scopes out the scene at a surreal socal club by Erin Mantz MSNBC July 29, 2008

The 1970s are over, but some things seem to be making a comeback: lava lamps, wallpaper, Donna Summer's concert tour and - swingers. The fascination with "the lifestyle" (as swingers fondly call it) is seeping into suburban, upper-middle class social scenes. Over drinks and dessert, discussions once focused on home renovations and restaurant openings are giving way to talk about wife-swapping and tales of key parties down the block.

Last month, I attended an end-of-the-elementary-school-year family barbecue in my woodsy suburban neighborhood outside of Washington, D.C. Sitting with four other couples as the kids played Wii downstairs, the parents' conversations turned from second grade teacher reputations and fourth quarter grades to the rumored "swingers" parties one community over. Those of us who had heard it before had a twinkle in their eyes. Those who hadn't heard it were shocked then extremely curious. I swear every mom and dad's ears perked up and hung on every word; even the most conservative-seeming mom of the bunch pepped up.

... I got myself an invitation to a swingers club. For one night, I was told I would have access to the entire club and get introduced to women who could answer my overriding questions of "why do you do it?" and "how can you do it?" The mystery began to unravel at every turn, down every hallway, and in between the many stares and smiles of strangers.

The Tabu Social Club in Catonsville, Md. is tucked behind a nondescript building and a 7-11, but once you see the blue awning with a fancy "T" you know you're in the right place. I remember marveling at how their elaborate black iron gate gave the entryway an almost regal quality. A bit shaky as I climbed the steps of the building, I braced myself for what I might find. For all the talk and joking around I had done with friends about this subject, coming face to face with the lifestyle could be something else altogether.

Three things struck me about the club atmosphere and clientele: Everyone seemed to be in a great mood (and this is before the action of the night began), lots of people seemed to know each other and everyone seemed pretty relaxed. The owners ran their club like a business, socialized like a host and hostess would anywhere, and seemed proud to preside over a club that so many people "in the lifestyle" called home on weekend nights.

As for the swinging and social scene - strange - yes. Sexual - absolutely. Sleazy? Only a few people who were so scantily dressed my head spun. Surreal? You bet.

But, on the surface, and behind the scenes, it was all very well-orchestrated as couples who'd communicated online met up or new ones greeted others. For the swingers that Saturday night, life seemed pretty good at the Tabu Social Club. People may not understand it or condone it, but perhaps they ought to respect the choice. Whether you are a woman swept up in thinking about the swingers phenomenon or curious to explore it, the big question on your mind must be this: Why do married women do it?

In the motion Davidson alleges that Skeen has wrongly turned himself into a fact-finder by sifting through the state's evidence, that Skeen's handling of a change of venue motion filed by Davidson was unfair to himself and his client, and that Skeen was unfair in providing Child Protective Services records to both defense and prosecuting attorneys.

Davidson is requesting that another trial judge - "preferably from another county" - be assigned to preside.

If Skeen does not voluntarily recuse himself from the case, another judge will be appointed to preside over a hearing on the matter and make a final decision.

Kelly, 41, is set to go on trial on Aug. 4. He is charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and aggravated assault of a child for allegedly forcing two young siblings to have sex with each other in 2004. He faces five years to life in prison for each charge.

He is also charged with tampering with evidence for allegedly destroying evidence in the case, including costumes the children wore when they performed for audiences and videotapes of the children performing skits and having sex with each other. Kelly faces two to 10 years in prison if convicted of the third-degree felony.

The victims in the Mineola Swingers' Club case - three siblings who are now a 10-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy, a 7-year-old girl and their 9-year-old aunt - all have testified that Kelly and his co-defendants taught them, beginning at age 5, how to dance and perform sex acts in "kindergarten", then forced them to dance and have sex with each other in front of an audience at the Mineola Swingers' Club. The defendants collected money for the performances but only paid the children with food. The children were also given "silly pills", or drugs, before they danced in the club.

LONDON (Reuters) - The woman who filmed motor racing chief Max Mosley taking part in a sado-masochistic orgy and sold the story to a British tabloid newspaper has apologized for the trouble it caused.

On Thursday, Mosley, 68, won 60,000 pounds ($119,100) in damages at London's High Court from the News of the World newspaper for breaching his privacy by reporting details of a German-themed sex session with five prostitutes.

The paper's story, which claimed Mosley, son of Britain's 1930s Fascist leader Oswald Mosley, had taken part in a "sick Nazi orgy" was based on footage captured by one of the women involved in the sex session, referred to in court as "Woman E."

In an interview with Sky News, she said there had been no Nazi element and was sorry for the trouble it had caused Mosley, president of Formula One's governing body.

"It was never talked about that it was going to be a Nazi scene, we just had confirmation to say that it was going to be a German prison scenario," the self-confessed dominatrix said.

"I can only apologize for what has happened but it's not going to take back all the damage that has been done."

The woman, a mother-of-two who Sky said was called Michelle, said the scandal had also forced her husband to quit his job as an agent for Britain's MI5 security service.

LONDON (AP) - A dominatrix who secretly filmed the president of Formula One's governing body in a sadomasochistic orgy said Friday she regretted her actions, which she said led to her husband's resignation from MI5, Britain's domestic spy agency.

The mother of two - known only as Woman E - said she also was sorry for causing pain to Max Mosley's wife, who was apparently unaware of the activities.

"No money is worth the sort of trouble and anguish it's caused everybody," the woman told Britain's Sky News, saying she was paid $40,000 by the News of the World to film the sex session. "I have been stupid, naive, and I wish I'd never done it."

She said her actions had prompted her husband to resign from MI5 where he had worked as a surveillance officer.

"He actually resigned to save any embarrassment for the service. He decided that the best thing to do was just be right and resign and save them any embarrassment," she said.

A British judge ruled Thursday that the tabloid breached the motorsport chief's privacy with a story claiming that the orgy he took part in had a Nazi theme. The newspaper now faces a legal bill of almost $2 million after Judge David Eady ordered it to pay damages and Mosley's legal costs, as well as its own.

Eady said he found no evidence that Mosley's role playing encounter with five women was intended to be an enactment of Nazi behavior.

The blonde middle-aged woman told Sky there had been no Nazi overtones, though Mosley took part in a German prison scenario where other women wore German uniforms and spoke German. Mosley is the son of the late Oswald Mosley, Britain's leading fascist politician in the 1930s and a friend of Adolf Hitler.

"I know for a fact, that it was spoken about, that Max actually found it quite a turn-on to speak to them in German. He liked the German language. It was prison uniforms because we were doing a German prison scene. But it wasn't Nazi," said the woman.

She said she saw the filming for the News of the World as an "opportunity."

"I spoke to my husband. It was going to be more of a joke situation than anything. I didn't know how big it was going to be. And I certainly didn't know how big the response would be over Max Mosley and the importance of him."

She said she knew her actions had caused great damage to Mosley's family.

"I feel really sorry for Mrs. Mosley and her family. It's devastating for her. She didn't ask for this and I'm very sorry that it came out as it did. I don't think enough sorries could make up for this. I do feel responsible."

Burlesque queen Dita Von Teese and Los Angeles-based dominatrix Cynthia Butler have settled a lawsuit that gives Von Teese the rights to a 2001 fetish film she starred in called "Slick City."

Von Teese, whose real name is Heather Sweet, claimed Butler stole her half of the rights to the film and cash. She filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Jan. 8 and her allegations included fraud and intentional misrepresentation.

According to a stipulated judgment filed by Butler's lawyer on Wednesday, "all rights and inventory, including masters of the film `Slick City,"' will be returned to Von Teese.

Butler's attorney, C. Curtis Edmondson, was not immediately available for comment.

Keith A. Fink, one of Von Teese's lawyers, said he and his client are happy with the resolution.

"It didn't take Solomonic wisdom ... to realize they better give back to Dita all her intellectual property rights to "Slick City," Fink said. "Just as we stated in our complaint, Dita always owned the rights to `Slick City' and any claim she relinquished her rights was false."

The resolution is "a victory for Dita as it achieved precisely what we sought -- Dita again has ownership in the `Slick City' intellectual property and she got back the masters of the movie all all the `Slick City' inventory," Fink said.

According to her lawsuit, Von Teese, who also works as a model, agreed to share profits and split the rights to her film with "Slick City" producer Bob Zahurak.

After Zahurak died, his widow and other business affiliates of distributor GwenMedia Inc. assured Von Teese that she would have full ownership of the film, her court papers said.

Von Teese claimed that Butler, who has also starred in various fetish films under the name Isabella Sinclaire, told her that she would be taking Zahurak's estate and GwenMedia to court in an effort to recover past-due royalties from her films.

But unknown to Von Teese, Butler sought and won the rights to GwenMedia's entire film library, including "Slick City," and intentionally failed to inform the court that Von Teese is the true owner of the title, according to her lawsuit. Under the settlement, any royalty claims Von Teese maintains she has regarding "Slick City" will be made against Zahurak's estate and not Butler.

Von Teese, 35, was married to shock rocker Marilyn Manson from 2005-07.

LONDON -- After the sting of scandal, Max Mosley can feel the balm of victory.

A British judge ruled Thursday that a tabloid newspaper breached the motorsport chief's privacy with a story claiming that a sadomasochistic orgy he took part in had a Nazi theme.

The News of the World faces a legal bill of almost 1 million pounds ($2 million) after the judge ordered it to pay damages and Mosley's legal costs, as well as its own.

Mosley said the ruling proves that his now-famous interest in sadomasochism is a purely private matter.

But some legal experts doubt the financial blow to the newspaper will be large enough to deter the prying of Britain's scandal-hungry tabloid press.

High Court judge David Eady ruled that Mosley, president of the governing body that oversees Formula One racing, ''had a reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to sexual activities (albeit unconventional) carried on between consenting adults on private property.''

The judge said he had found no evidence that Mosley's role-playing encounter with five women ''was intended to be an enactment of Nazi behavior or adoption of any of its attitudes.''

''There was bondage, beating and domination, which seem to be typical of S&M behavior,'' Eady said.

Mosley's fondness for caning and spanking has become public knowledge since the News of the World ran a story in March giving details of his encounters with five dominatrices in a basement flat in London.

Video footage, secretly filmed by one of the women, has been viewed millions of times on the Internet, and extracts were played during Mosley's weeklong court hearing against the newspaper this month.

DUNCANVILLE - I just finished reading the 19-page affidavit detailing the charges against The Cherry Pit owners and I'm physically ill. It's more proof that the image of incredibly gorgeous people having romantic interludes with no consequences happens only on TV shows.

An informant describes five and six beds put together with couples having sexual intercourse in plain sight of well- everyone else and a hot tub with unidentified substances floating on the water.

The only treatment the informant saw for this hot tub was Cherry Pit owner Jim Trulock skimming the surface with a net and disposing of the "contents". Yeah, I got ill again just typing that. People that attend these parties have to sign waivers saying The Cherry Pit is not responsible for any diseases you may contract.

I pity the person that's gotten to the point that they can't enjoy Friday night unless they're willing to sign a paper that says "you may get AIDS if you take another step". The best part? People are paying the club's owners for these privileges, as the Pit's pulling down a reported $10,000 a month in a residential area. And to think some of us work for a living.

Don't even get me started on the large quantities of liquor and guns police found in the home Tuesday. Trulock told one party guest there were "No Trespassing" signs which the club owner said gave him the right to shoot anyone on the property he didn't approve of. Alcohol, guns and a misguided sense of justice. I wish I had time to tell you the number of crime stories that began with those three elements.

I implore the "customers" of The Cherry Pit to think with their brains for a second. Jim Trulock and Julie Norris are not defending you or your lifestyle, they're endangering your life.

And hey Jim and Julie, you had a good long run but the jig is clearly up. I don't know what ruling you will eventually get in court but this evidence doesn't help. I suspect it's going to be difficult to find a judge that agrees our constitutional rights include holding swingers' parties in residential areas. For right now, it doesn't look like you'll get to party in Duncanville anymore. The smart thing here would be to move on. Sounds like you can afford it.

A Jacob's Lane woman has been indicted by the Maury County grand jury for second-degree murder in connection with the bondage death of her husband, according to court documents.

Rebecca Bargy, 25, is suspected of tying her husband, James Bargy, 29, as part of a sex game and abandoning him to die of asphyxiation while she was away for several hours with a boyfriend, according to Assistant District Attorney Larry Nickell.

Dr. Thomas Deering, a Nashville medical examiner, testified at a preliminary hearing that James Bargy could not breathe because of the ball gag in his mouth and the strap tied to Bargy's neck compressed his jugular vein, contributing to his death.

Authorities found James Bargy's body on the floor of the couple's home at 4 p.m. April 19. Sheriff's detectives said Rebecca Bargy tied her husband about 7:30 p.m. the previous day.

In a written statement, Rebecca Bargy wrote she had tried to leave her husband several times and related an incident last year in which her husband had eaten rat poison because he didn't want to live any longer.

DUNCANVILLE - The Cherry Pit is more than a weekend hangout for a few consenting adults.

For the owners of the swingers club, it's a profitable enterprise where sex, booze and guns collide.

According to court documents released Wednesday, sex parties are held at the home in the 1300 block of North Cedar Ridge Drive every Friday and Saturday for 50 to 80 people, or 80 to 100 during special events and holidays. The documents showed that more than 7,000 people have attended parties there in the last year and that the owners can earn $10,000 per month.

Duncanville is trying to shut down the Cherry Pit, which city officials say is an illegal sexually oriented business. City Manager Kent Cagle has said that investigators are building a larger case that also includes charges of organized criminal activity, prostitution, narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

Cherry Pit's attorney, Ed Klein, said authorities have trumped up the charges against the Cherry Pit owners - Jim Trulock and Julie M. Norris - because the city's ordinance last fall targeting the business failed to shut its doors.

"It's the shotgun approach. They're going to try to allege whatever they can and see what sticks," said Mr. Klein.

An informant told police that patrons can openly solicit sex acts from others using "fun money" purchased in a manner similar to buying tokens to play a game at an amusement park.

So when authorities stormed the sex club last weekend, they found the expected: a stripper pole, bondage devices and thong underwear draped from the ceiling.

But what they didn't expect to find was hundreds of bottles of liquor and a cache of loaded guns.

The stash of liquor and weapons brought in state authorities, prompting a second raid Tuesday that resulted in the seizure of the liquor.

In the court documents, the informant who attended a party this month vividly describes a place where patrons walk around in the nude, condoms are rarely used, bed sheets appear to not be changed and the tepid hot tub water where sex acts occur isn't chemically treated.

Mr. Trulock, 59, explained to the informant that he has the right to host private parties in his own home.

"Trulock compared his sexually oriented business to a church group holding a barbecue and charging a $10 admittance to cover the cost of the food," the affidavit said.

Most patrons are usually asked for a $50 donation to attend a party. Females are usually admitted free, because Mr. Trulock says that single females attract male attendees.

Patrons also are asked to sign a waiver saying they won't sue the Cherry Pit over any injuries that occur or any sexually transmitted diseases contracted.

Feedback letters are an effective way to convey a positive image of alternate sexual practices such as SM, swinging, or polyamory. You can help to correct negative social myths and misconceptions about these types of practices. These letters help achieve the advocacy goals of the NCSF.